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J. Hicks solid brass cipher disk (1893) measuring about 5 cm in diameter. | Acquired in February 2009 from a seller in Chicago. Inscription on back of cipher disk shows a) "WD 52" which is likely "War Department 52" and b) the broad arrow stamp. Here are other photos of this cipher disk: I would be most appreciative of any information regarding this cipher disk. | Absolutely no other information on the web or searched texts so far, nor from international museums including the Imperial War Museum in Great Britain. |
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U.S. Army cylindrical cipher device (1922 onwards). | The aluminum cylinder is made up of 25 coded wheels with each having a different but specific permutation of the alphabet. Each wheel was indexed accordingly and they could be ordered in a manner determined by a key list. | There's much on the web for this cylinder with one on Wikipedia. |
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Hebern Electric Code Machine (1924). | Here are other photos of this Hebern machine: | Please click on this Wikipedia entry on the history of Hebern cipher machines. |
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Kryha Standard Model - circa 1920's. | Here are other photos of this Kryha machine: | Please click on this Wikipedia entry on the history of Kryha cipher machines. |
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Kryha Marconi Model - late 1920's. |
Here are other photos of this Kryha machine:
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Please click on this Wikipedia entry on the history of Kryha cipher machines. |
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WW-II German 4-rotor Kriegsmarine Enigma (1942-1945). | Here are other photos of this classic 4-rotor Enigma machine: | Please click on this Wikipedia entry on the history of the 4-rotor naval Enigma. |
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WW-II German 3-rotor Enigma (1939-1945). |
Here are other photos of this electro-mechanical device:
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Please click on this Wikipedia entry on the history of the German Enigma. There are many websites devoted to Enigma and its history including this site (from Wayback Machine as the actual site is no longer around - thank you Sophie from Comparitech for alerting me to this!) on the origins of the Enigma/Ultra operation and this site on Enigma codebreaking which has a photo of an 8-rotor Enigma which could arguably be Model B in the early commercial versions of Enigma? |
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Commercial 4-rotor Enigma-K (circa 1940). |
Here are other photos of this electro-mechanical device:
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Please click on this armyradio.wiki website on the history of the commercial Enigma-K. |
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Electrical Cable harness for German Enigma machine (2012 production from Germany). | Purchased on eBay Germany in September 2012 and should prove very useful from a visualization and presentation aid on Enigma. Here are other photos of this cabling for the Enigma: | Please click on this Wikipedia entry on the history of the German Enigma. |
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KL-7 Rotor Device (NATO Version). | Here are other photos of this electro-mechanical device (which was also came under POLLUX, AFSAM and ADONIS): And here are some recently declassified documents on the KL-7: | Please click on this Wikipedia entry on the history of the U.S./NATO KL-7 encryption device. |
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NEMA (Swiss Enigma-like machine - circa 1947). | Here are other photos of this electro-mechanical device: I have an extra service manual to trade. | Please click on this Wikipedia entry on the history of the NEMA cipher device. |
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Gretag TC-35 Telecipher encryption unit. |
Serial plate specifies this unit as type "GR tg 35" which is part of the Gretag TC-35 family. This unit was produced for the Danish Military in 1951 - for further details, please visit this
www.cryptomuseum.com Gretag TC-35 webpage. The cover on this telecipher machine is lockable and has the accompanying key.
Here are other photos of this electro-mechanical device along with the accompanying Gretag ETK-47 teleprinter unit:
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More profile information is available at www.cryptomuseum.com on this TC-35 webpage and this ETK-47 webpage. |
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Swiss TC-53 Telecipher Machine (Telekryptogeraet). | The TC-53 was produced by the Swiss company Dr. Edgar Gretener AG (later known as GRETAG) in the 1950's. Additional photos: | More information available at this website by Jerry Proc with significant contributions (background and photos) by Walter Schmid. |
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Manual for Swiss KFF-58/68 Telecipher Machine (Telekryptogeraet). | The KFF-58/68 and TC-58 were produced by the Swiss company Dr. Edgar Gretener AG (later known as GRETAG) in the late 1950's / early 1960's. Additional photos: |
More information available at these sites:
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Fialka M-125 MN Encryption Device (1978 to 1999). |
Here are other photos of this electro-mechanical device:
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More information available at this German website on the Soviet M-125 MN Fialka system. |
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Koralle M-130 Soviet Weather Cipher Device. | Here are other photos of this electro-mechanical device: I would much like to find the crypto engine for this device - I have 5 of the main rotors. | More information available at this German website on the Soviet M-130 Koralle system. |
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Rotors from a T-205 WECHA Soviet Block Rotor Encryption Device (1972 to 1982). | Rotors from a Soviet Block T-205 WECHA rotor encryption device - likely from 1972 up to 1982 (thank you Jurag and Jörg Drobick!) | Additional information is available at this German website on the Soviet T-205 Wecha system. |
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Hagelin C-36 Mechanical Cipher Device - 1936. | This device was produced by Hagelin in 1936 with one major purchaser being France. | More information available at this Wikipedia website on the history of the C-36. |
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WW-II M209-A (American Military Encryption Device). | The M209-A (American Device produced by Hagelin-Cryptos under contract with Smith-Corona) was used primarily by the U.S. military in WW-II and Korean War. Other photos: | More information available at this Wikipedia website on the history of the M-209A, M-209B and CSP-1500. |
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WW-II M209-B (American Military Encryption Device). | The M209-B (American Device produced by Hagelin-Cryptos under contract with Smith-Corona) was used primarily by the U.S. military in WW-II and Korean War. Other photos: | More information is available at this Wikipedia website on the history of the M-209A, M-209B and CSP-1500. |
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WW-II CSP-1500 (U.S. Navy version of the M-209). | The CSP-1500 (American Device produced by Hagelin-Cryptos under contract with Smith-Corona) was used primarily by the U.S. Navy in WW-II and Korean War. Other photos: | Additional information is available at this Wikipedia website on the history of the M-209A, M-209B and CSP-1500. |
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U.S. KOK-1 Encryption System. |
Permutor tray in its plastic storage case. Vintage is likely at least of late 1970's and into the 1980's based on its reference in this TM 11-5805-585-14-1 technical manual. The KOK-1 served as a permutor tray for the Key Generator KG-27. This TM is basically intended to assist in the operation and maintenance of the AN/TCC-73 telephone terminal set system. [Many thanks to psiberware for alerting me to this information.] |
No additional information on web. |
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Code Empire 1 - France - 1942. | Comprised of two volumes - the first for coding and the second for decoding. Each of the volumes have a second section towards the end: | No additional information on web. |
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C-52 Hagelin-Cryptos Device. | The C-52 was produced by Hagelin-Cryptos in the early 1950's. Other photos: | More information available at this Wikipedia website on the history of the C-52 and CX-52. There's also an excellent technical webpage by Dirk Rijmenants on the C-52 and CX-52. |
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CD-57 Hagelin-Cryptos Portable Cryptographic Device. | The CD-57 was produced by Hagelin-Cryptos in the early 1957/1958 timeframe. Other photos: | More information available at this Wikipedia website on the history of the CD-57. There's also an excellent webpage with photos and simulator for the CD-57. |
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HC-9 (Swedish Device). | The HC-9 was produced by the Swedish company AB Transvertex in the 1950's through the 1970's timeframe. A basic component for this machine was the use of punched cards which emulated pinwheels. | More information available at this Wikipedia website on the history of the HC-9. There's also an excellent webpage with photos and significant details for the HC-9. |
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Swiss FG (Front-Chiffriergeräte) Cipher Device (Manual System) from 1950's. |
This device was likely used by the Swiss Intelligence Service in the 1950's.
Additional photos:
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No other information on the web has been found for this device. |
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Cryptographe Nicolay - Code based on Disk System with instruction sheet. | I had never seen this cryptograph until it appeared on eBay France in May 2013 - likely produced circa 1920-1935. Additional photos: | No other significant information on the web has been found for this device. |
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French Device - Code based on Sliding Alphabets (Manual System). |
This device was designed by "Codes Télégraphiques Georges Lugagne" in France and produced circa 1915-1925.
Additional photos:
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No other significant information on the web has been found for this device aside from this photo on eBay in January 2009. |
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French Device - Code based on Sliding Alphabets (Manual System). |
This device was designed by "Sphinx" Pocket Cryptograph - Société des Codes Télégraphiques Georges Lugagne (France) and produced circa 1920-1930.
Additional photos:
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No other significant information on the web has been found for this device aside from this photo on eBay in January 2009. |
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UK SYKO Device (Manual strip-cipher system). | This UK device was used in WW-II by the British and its allies including Canada. Additional photos: |
Here is an entry in an issue of "Training Corps AIR Gazette" from 1942:
"SYKO was a transposition-like cypher which had been developed by the R.A.F. for conveying secret intelligence by means of wireless telegraphy. The word "SYKO" was presumably coined from the first syllablesof phonetic pronunciation of the words "Cypher" and "Code". Of course, the methods used by the R.A.F. for preparing SYKO messages are quite different from those we have been discussing here, but - and this is an important point - practice in preparing messages of the SYKO type can be obtained by following the suggestions made in this article. In the SYKO system a plaintext letter may be represented by a large number of different cypher letters or numerals. Furthermore, the cypher groups ued for any one day are never employed again, which means that even if the enemy captured a SYKO card it would be of no use to him the following day." In the previous paragraphs for this article, the author (John Sinclair) used the term "transposition" when he most likely meant to write "substitution". |
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U.S. Signal Corps Code Wheel (1912). | This U.S. Signal Corps codewheel device was used in WW-I and prior. Additional photos: I have an extra one of these if anyone wishes to trade. | Light research reveals no other significant information on the web has been found for this device. |
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BATCO (UK) Code Card System - circa 1970's onward. | This U.K. handheld encryption device was used from the late 1980's onwards. Additional photos: | More information available at this Wikipedia website on the history of BATCO. |
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U.S. Navy CSP-1750 - circa 1970's onward. | U.S. Navy CSP-1750 (Part of PENELOPE System - comes with cursor. Here is another photo of the CSP-1750. |
Very interesting information available at this
USS Pampanito website including a copy of the
Operating Instructions for the CSP-1750 and CSP-1756.
Other websites of interest:
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U.S. Navy CSP-1756 - circa 1970's onward. | U.S. Navy CSP-1756 (Part of PENELOPE System - made of mahogany with dimensions: 15"w, 3"d, 3/4"h). Additional photos: Second U.S. Navy CSP-1756 photos: | Very interesting information available at this USS Pampanito website including a copy of the Operating Instructions for the CSP-1750 and CSP-1756. |
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Insigna from the "Service du Chiffre" (French Military). | These were produced from 1946 until 1990 - the one pictured from my collection was likely issued in the early 1950's. | Here is a webpage titled De l'insigne du service du chiffre à l'insigne des spécialités SSI for excellent background information on these badges/insignas in France. |
Other Cryptographic Equipment |
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STU-III Secure Phone - Sectel 9600 (1987 onwards). | Here are other photos related to this Sectel phone: | Please click on this Wikipedia entry on the history of STU-III secure phones. |
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STU-III Secure Phone (Model 2100) by AT&T. | Please click on this Wikipedia entry on the history of STU-III secure phones. | |
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U.S. Naval Cipher Phone. | Wall Mount TA-840A/U by Naval Avionics Facility. | Only scant information on this telephone on the web. |
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U.S. Cipher Phone. | SVP Model 1841346 by FEMCO. | Limited information on this telephone on the web. |
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U.S. Secure Phone. | HYX-60/TSEC. | No other information on this telephone on the web. |
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UK Keying Gear - Cossor. | No other information on this keyer on the web. |
Cryptographic Reproductions |
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A.J. Myer Cipher Disk - 2009. |
Purchased on eBay in March 2009. This is an excellent reproduction of a cipher code disk used by the U.S. Signal Corps
from the American Civil War until the Spanish American War. About 3.75 inches in diameter with heavy yellow card
stock with base and turning knob in brass finish. Based on the an original patent from 1865 by A.J. Myer. The disk came with
a copy of the Myer patent and a page description on how to use the
"Military Dot Code" with the disk.
Further information can be found in the online book (originally written in 1882) "The Military Telegraph" which covers communications for both sides of the Civil War. |
I purchased mine for $21.50 USD shipping included. If you are interested in inquiring about this replica disk, you can contact the original designer through this email address arcy1947@yahoo.com with your questions. These are made in the United States by a handicapped stroke victim. |
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Civil War Confederate Cipher Reel - reproduction run from Don Markle and Tom Laser in 2000 at Gettysburg. | Civil War Confederate Cipher Reel or Cylinder - wooden reproduction from 2000. Purchased at National Cryptologic Museum Gift Shop in 2002. Here is a photo of the accompanying pamphlet. | Here is a photo of the only surviving actual Confederate cipher reel on display at the NCM. |
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Civil War Secret Decoder. | Civil War Secret Decoder Cypher Wheel - wooden production circa 2011. Purchased on eBay U.S. in October 2011. | No other reference found on the web. |
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KAL-55-B Grille and Code Table - reproduction circa 2004. | Here is the obverse of the KAL-55-B which details directions on usage. | No other reference found on the web. |
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M-94 / CSP-488 Replica (Polished Aluminum) - 2008. |
Purchased on eBay in December 2008. Specifications as described in listing:
During the summer of 2012, a friend (here in Ottawa) Scott Williams took on the challenge of stamping the 25 alphabets onto their respective disks. This was accomplished by using a 26-position index wheel (therefore moving 360/26 deg for every letter struck) and a letter-punch of the right dimensions for the letters. In September 2012, Scott completed this project with the following results;
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From Manufacturers of Cryptographic Devices |
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Datotek Book Ends (American made by BTS Group). | Purchased on eBay in September 2020. Here is a photo of the Datotek logo on the book ends. | |
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Crypto AG Complimentary Pen (Swiss made by Caran d'Ache). | Purchased on eBay in 2007. | |
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Hagelin Cryptos Complimentary Lighter. | Purchased on eBay in 2007. | |
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Crypto AG RFM-100 Meter - 1980's. | Purchased on eBay in 2008. Likely used by Crypto AG technicians in the field. | |
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Crypto AG Swiss Army Knife. | Purchased on eBay in 2008. Here is the photo of the obverse of the knife. | |
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AB Cryptoteknik Pencil Sharpener - 1930's. | Purchased on eBay in 2008. Here is the photo of the company marking on the sharpener. It appears that this company produced non-cryptographic items! |